35mm · Film photography · Photography

Crucible & Covid-19

One of two theatres adjacent to one another in Sheffield city centre, the Crucible is the younger of the pair, dating from 1971 (the other, The Lyceum, dates back to the late 19th century). It’s probably most famous for being the host venue for the World Snooker Championship since 1977.

Passing the Crucible

As I write this today, Sheffield (and the rest of South Yorkshire) has been put on notice that we will be moving to the Tier 3 “Very High” level for Covid-19 restrictions at the weekend. While, for the most part, these won’t make much of a difference to what I do (it’s nothing like as restrictive as the full lockdown we had earlier in the year), it does place a restriction on mixing with people outside your immediate family or support-bubble, so it’ll mean I can’t see my dad for the next few weeks (assuming it’s lifted by then).

It also means that I’m not supposed to travel from the Tier 3 area to areas at a lower level of alert. This is disappointing as I have a week’s leave coming up and had planned to make a visit or two to the Peak District National Park. While I can still access part of the park (some of it falls within Sheffield, and South Yorkshire’s borders), it’s a relatively limited area and doesn’t include the places I’d hoped to go to. As I would be travelling in a private vehicle and not interacting with anyone, I’m not sure that there’s a problem or that I would be risking any sort of trouble, but I guess I’ll see what happens before making a decision one way or the other. If not, there are plenty of other places within South Yorkshire that I can visit, and not just the bits within the Peak District. I have a project that I came up with the idea for over a year ago, so maybe I can make a start on making the pictures for that.

Crucible theatre

Olympus OM-2n, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 & Kodak Ektachrome 100 EPP (expired at some unknown date).

Taken on 17 September 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A big metal fish at the railway station

This wonderful sculpture was sat outside Midland Station in Sheffield when I walked past a few weeks ago. The day was bright with autumn sunshine and the metal body of the fish caught the light nicely on its scales. The OM-2n metered the scene with aplomb, the Zuiko glass resolved sharp images, and the expired Ektachrome gave a gorgeous look (although I have removed a purple cast that was lurking in the shadows).

Fish
Closer fish

Olympus OM-2n, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 & Kodak Ektachrome 100 EPP (expired at some unknown date).

Taken on 17 September 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

More expired slide film: Ektachrome 100 EPP

Back in July I bought several rolls of expired slide film from someone on a forum I frequent. They consisted of Kodak Ektachrome 100 EPP, and Kodak Elite Chrome in 100asa and 200asa variants. The seller was unsure of the age of the film and stated it had just been kept in a box in the house, so no refrigeration. Despite this, having had some results from expired E6 film that I’d been happy with, I went ahead and bought some.

Flatbed

About a month ago I shot one of the rolls of Ektachrome 100 EPP from the batch. I have no idea how old it is as it wasn’t boxed, just stored in it’s plastic container (with a Kodak label on the top). The Elite Chrome is boxed and (IIRC) expired around 2010, but I’ve not idea if the Ektachrome is similarly dated.

Glossops Trophies & Engraving

Anyway, I decided to shoot the first roll at box speed as a bit of a test – still aiming to make appealing photographs, but just shooting at easy to visit locations. This way I’d have an idea of how the film has stood the test of time and also whether I need to overexpose it or not on future rolls. The results are, on the whole, very nice. There was a bit of a purple / magenta cast to the results, but I’ve been able to remove that using Photoshop. In terms of exposure, I think it needs a little more light – the shadows are a little dark on some frames, especially some that were shot on an overcast day – so I think I’ll shoot the next roll at 80asa to see if that works better.

There’s something very special about E6 colour film though – the bright, vivid look of the colours isn’t something that tends to be matched by negative film. It’s just a pity it’s such a harsh mistress (and so expensive!)…

The three frames posted here today are just the ones I’ve uploaded to Flickr so far, so there will be a bunch more in the coming days.

Purple curtains

Olympus OM-2n, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 / Zuiko Auto-T 135mm f/3.5 & Kodak Ektachrome 100 EPP (expired at some unknown date).

Taken on 17 September 2020